Raptors Top Heat 116-89 In Game 7 To Make First Conference Finals In Franchise History

Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan led the Toronto Raptors with 35 and 28 points respectively in a 116-89 Game 7 victory over the Miami Heat at the Air Canada Centre on Sunday to advance to the Conference finals for the first time in franchise history.

Raptors Top Heat 116-89 In Game 7

Bismack Biyombo added 17 points and 16 rebounds for the Raptors, who will now open the Eastern Conference finals in Cleveland against the Cavaliers on Tuesday night.

Incidentally enough, Toronto fans began chanting `We Want Cleveland!’ in the final seconds of the game.

“It’s great to hear the home crowd,” DeRozan said. “This organization deserves it, this country deserves it, to see them get to the next step, somewhere they haven’t been. But we’re not done yet.”

Despite struggling for most of the playoffs, Lowry and DeRozan both found their form again on Sunday night. Lowry made 11 of 20 shots, including five of seven from 3-point range, and DeRozan made 12 of 29 attempts. Lowry had nine assists and seven rebounds, while DeRozan had eight rebounds.

“We never doubted Kyle and DeMar,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “They’re our All Stars and they both played like it tonight. They both stepped up and carried us.”

With the victory, the Raptors have now become the 15th team in NBA history to win two Game 7s in the same postseason. They defeated the Indiana Pacers in the first round.

“I think this group is hungry,” Casey said about his team. “Never say never.”

Casey declined to comment on whether center Jonas Valanciunas, who sprained his right ankle in Game 3 against the Heat, would be ready to play against Cleveland on Tuesday.

Scouting booklets for the Cleveland series were sitting on the chair of each Raptors player inside their locker room less than an hour the game.

Dwayne Wade and Goran Dragic both scored 16 points for the Heat.

“We fought tooth and nail to try to get to that goal of getting to the Eastern Conference Finals,” Wade said. “We came up obviously one game short of that. For myself and a lot of guys on this team, there’s not always mother season, another season, so you want to take advantage of the opportunities.”

The game also marked Miami’s first Game 7 loss since the first round in Atlanta in 2009. They won their last four Game 7s, all at home. Had they won, the Heat would have joined the Los Angeles Lakers and the Boston Celtics as the only teams to win five consecutive Game 7s.

The Heat recently lost Chris Bosh at the All-Star break for the second straight year, then lost center Hassan Whiteside to a sprained right knee in Game 3 against Toronto.

Joe Johnson and Justise Winslow scored 13 points, and Luol Deng had 12 for the Heat.

The Raptors led 86-78 going into the fourth quarter, but then stretched their lead to 16 points thanks to a dunk from Biyombo and back-to-back 3-pointers by DeMarre Carroll and Terrence Ross, thus pushing the score to 96-80 at 9:41. Patrick Patterson then made a layup and, after Lowry’s steal on Dragic, added a pair of free throws to give Toronto a 102-82 lead at 7:30.

“Their most aggressive, most energetic burst was at the beginning of that fourth quarter and they put it away,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. “They wore us down.”

The Raptors didn’t let up, and a 3 by Lowry at 3:23 made it 111-86.

TORONTO, ON – MAY 15: Bismack Biyombo #8 of the Toronto Raptors dunks the ball over Dwyane Wade #3 of the Miami Heat late in the second half of Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2016 NBA Playoffs at the Air Canada Centre on May 15, 2016 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Article by Pablo Mena